


Eyes Closed

by Kiwiabell (orphan_account)



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Horror, Mystery, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-11-18 05:23:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11284554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Kiwiabell
Summary: Lucy wanted to make some extra cash in the summer, so she decided to take the job of babysitting Natsu’s younger sister. When the blonde is home alone with the young teen, she soon overhears that a murderer had escaped a nearby mental ward. Soon enough, she discovers that they aren’t home alone. How can she defend herself and Wendy from a world renowned killer?





	1. Scary Movie

**Chapter 1: Scary Movie**

Delicate fingertips tapped against the wooden coffee table, as the blonde girl was listlessly glancing at her phone. There wasn't much to view on her small hand held device besides the usual posts from people she followed on social media. That of which included pictures of nature and images of her friends from high school.

"Lucy, do you know what time Natsu-nii will get home?" A soft voice called out from in front of the girl, causing her to shift her eyes up to view the small twelve year old, Wendy.

"He should get home around 11pm or midnight, he said he had to work a late shift tonight," Lucy replied with a sigh, referring to the younger girl's older brother.

Natsu Dragneel was one of the town's hotheads who was always known for getting into trouble wherever he went. Whether it was starting a fight with anything with legs, or occasionally setting things and people aflame. Everyone in the small city of Magnolia knew the pyromaniac, having earned him the title, "Salamander."

The reason Lucy was at the Dragneel's family house was because that Friday night, Wendy's parent's Igneel and Grandine had gone off to their weekly date night. Although they insisted they wouldn't be gone long, the blonde teenager knew they were planning to stay the whole weekend out of town for a well deserved break from their hot tempered son.

The blonde's day had been a slow one, because it was summer vacation which meant no school for her. The seventeen year old girl was enjoying the leisure time though, and didn't mind making a few extra bucks while she was at it.

It wasn't even much of an inconvenience for Lucy to watch the young girl, because she spent most of her time at the Dragneel household anyways. They'd always been close family friends through Natsu, which his parents accepted her as their second daughter upon meeting her.

She'd been struggling to live alone after her father's death, leaving her an orphan. Lucy had bounced around hotels for awhile before settling at a cheap place to stay. Despite her affordable one room and bathroom apartment, she spent a lot of her time with the four member family a lot while staying in their guest bedroom.

Despite paying for her own place she always felt comfort of being with the family, the Dragneel's made her feel less lonely. It felt as if she had a loving supportive family with her.

"Lucy, do mind if we make some popcorn. The movie is great and all, but I'm feeling kinda hungry." Wendy asked with a sweet smile adorning her face. With that kind of expression how could her babysitter say no?

The teenager got up with a smirk of her own liking the idea, muttering a reply of approval to the girl before walking off into their kitchen.

The Dragneel household wasn't the fanciest to say the least, seeing as Lucy spent her young years growing up in a giant mansion owning over ten-thousand acres of land in her family name. However, something about the small house she was currently in was cozy and friendly. It was a home fit for a loving family.

As soon as Lucy grabbed a bag of popcorn from the box and placed it in the microwave, a notification sound from her phone caught her attention. After she clicked the popcorn button on the microwave, she then went to check her messages.

**Natsu** : How are you two doing?

Lucy let out a soft audible giggle upon reading his message. They both knew very well he wasn't aloud to text during his work hours, but it was just like her best friend to always worry about her. He was one of the most caring guys she was glad to be close with.

**Lucy:** We are fine, just making popcorn for the movie :)

After sending the reply, she let out a soft sigh listening to the popping sounds of the kernels go off in the microwave. She silently counted down each second of the microwave timer in her head. Even when asking small questions and making light conversation the pink haired boy always seemed to make Lucy's mood instantly become positive.

He always seemed to be the one person who could truly make her happy for how sweet he was, even if his true kindness was normally hidden behind his rambunctious behavior.

**Natsu:** Good, well I'll be home as soon as Ice Freak and I finish closing up this place. It shouldn't be too long, then we will finally get the party started at home.

He replied with a bunch of fire emojis after, but that was Natsu for you. The nickname being for his childhood friend, Gray Fullbuster, whom he was currently with. The ice related nickname being for the fact the dark haired boy was pretty cold to say the least. That and he had an obsession with frozen treats.

The way he replied to her message revealed how he would typically act. He would usually show his true sensitive emotions just to cover them with a comment that was light hearted and silly. Although, that's what made the pink haired boy Natsu, by avoiding any true emotional conversation. In this case him being worried about his girls, and then covering it with a comment about his coworker.

As soon as the microwave timer went off, Lucy rushed over and removed the steamy hot bag to cool down. After she set the bag down newly opened, she grabbed two bowls to divide the popcorn between the two, ensuring a fair amount.

She then grabbed the bowls and her cellphone before heading back over to the living room. As soon as Wendy's childish face light up in excitement upon seeing the snack, Lucy couldn't help but smile in return. It was amazing what the sight of food could do to all the members of the Dragneel family.

"Thank you, Lucy!" The darker haired girl cheered, upon grabbing her hot bowl of buttery popcorn.

"No problem, Wendy," the blonde replied with a soft smile. Once the two were both situated comfortably on the couch, they resumed their horror movie they were watching earlier.

The twelve year wasn't exactly old enough to watch scary movies above the PG rating. However Lucy was in charge then, and what was the fun in watching kid friendly movies late on a Friday night?

The dimmed lights in the living room added to the suspense of the horror flick, having both normally timid girls at the edge of their seats. As the orchestrated notes sped up from the sound of movie, Lucy and Wendy's heart beats increased at the same rate. They knew the music signaling something was about to soon pop out and jump scare them. At that exact moment is exactly when a noise went off in their house causing the two to scream.

The two frightened girls looked at each other with terrified looks having abandoned the popcorn to a mess on the ground. They both finally realized the sound hadn't come from the movie once that scene ended up being very anti-climatic. The sound had been from Lucy's phone alarming her it was 11pm, the time Natsu should be arriving home.

The two let out a giggle, having paused the movie. They both found it hilarious how they had been more scared from the phone's ringtone than the actual movie.

Lucy immediately dismissed her alarm and went to check her recent messages she'd been ignoring during the movie.

**59 new messages**

Her eyes practically jumped out of her head upon seeing that number. She was lucky enough to have two messages half the time, much less that many. The blonde was initially shocked with the fact she hadn't overhead the notification for any of them before she remembered her texts were muted.

She immediately opened her messaging app and began scrolling through the conversations, first viewing her group chat with her friends Erza, Gray, and Natsu.

**Erza:** Hey guys, I just saw on the news that some guy escaped a mental ward.

**Gray:** What about it?

**Erza:** The guy apparently is known as the mass murder Jackal.

**Gray:** Are you serious? They let him escape!?

**Erza:** He was the guy who killed all those innocent girls a few years back, but they placed him in a mental hospital since he claimed everything was under his god, Zeref.

**Natsu:** Zeref. I feel like I heard that name before.

**Gray:** I think he's the guy that had all those occult worshippers serving him. But that was so long ago.

**Erza:** Well anyways, stay safe guys. He is a mass murderer, and he is on the loose in our city.

**Gray:** Will do thanks Erza.

**Natsu:** Yeah, thanks.

After reading the rest of the full conversation, Lucy raised an eyebrow in confusion as to what was going on. She'd read about people escaping prison cells to go into people's homes in novels and horror films, but never did she expect to be in that situation of her own.

As soon as she finally realized that it was all real, she quickly switched over to see the spam of messages Natsu had left for her.

**Natsu:** Lucy, are you two okay?

**Natsu:** I should be home soon!

**Natsu:** Don't worry about what Erza said I will protect you both.

**Natsu:** Why aren't you answering?

**Natsu:** Please tell me everything's alright.

**Natsu:** If you don't answer soon I'm going to call Wendy, so please answer.

**Natsu:** Lucy...I'm serious.

**Natsu:** God dammit, why won't they let me just go home already!

**Natsu:** Of all days!

**Natsu:** Gramps said it's unsafe to leave, but that's the whole reason I want to get back home!

**Natsu:** Ugh, just don't worry. I'll do what I can to get back as soon as soon as possible.

Lucy immediately felt bad for not responding earlier to the boy who was caring so much about her and his little sister. She probably had him worried sick, so the young woman quickly responded before he could freak out again.

**Lucy:** Don't worry, we are both fine just waiting on you to get home.

She let out a sigh in relief, seeing as at least he was safe himself when he responded with a bunch of happy emojis and flames. The blonde knew he was just trying to cheer her up with emoticons, and he was probably still very worried. Everyone knew Natsu had an extremely protective nature, so she didn't even expect him to be calm until he got home.

"Wendy, let's make sure and lock up the place for good this time. It looks like there's a crazy guy on the loose, who might put us in a plot of our own scary movie." Lucy told the girl with a light laugh, hoping to not freak out the younger girl but still aware her of the situation.

"Okay, Lucy," The purple haired girl replied with a smile, about to get up to double check if the doors were locked.

As soon as the two girls stood up, the lights in the house immediately flickered off as if the whole domicile had lost power. The two young girls shot each other a frightened look, obviously confused as what had just happened.

What was going on in their small city of Magnolia, and what was going to happen to the two girls?


	2. Chapter 2: Fairy Tail Cafe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: T for gruesome mentions, mildly mature themes, and some teen related situations  
> ~~~  
> "No matter how hurt someone is, they're meant to overcome it and try to go forward."
> 
> -Mirajane Strauss

It was late night at the Fairy Tail cafe in which Natsu Dragneel worked at along with a bunch of other teens. Him and his childhood friend both worked in the kitchen of the restaurant to cook all the meals.

It was a job they both enjoyed, because it allowed a friendly competition between the two. Natsu and Gray always found a reason to get into some sort of fight. The topic of the disagreement was typically over frivolous things such as name calling or a choice of food. That's due to their opposite personalities and interests.

Cooking in the same restaurant allowed the friends to compete in fighting to see which one of them would receive the most tips based of their ability. Being under slightly strict rules of the establishment kept the two from going overboard most the time. Excluding the three fires that had occurred in the first week they'd both began working there.

The pinkette sat in one of the booths of the restaurant, indulging in a bag of hot fries. One hand scooping the spicy chips into his mouth, and his other hand leaving chili powder stains on his phone screen as he scrolled through different apps.

"What in the world are you doing, Lava Brain!" A voice belonging to a certain Gray Fullbuster called out as he plopped his body into the opposite side of the booth.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Droopy Drawers? I'm starving and we are about to close anyways." Natsu said with a scowl, looking up from his device to chew loudly just to annoy the lather.

Gray looked at his friend with tired dark eyes, and gave a sigh leaning back against the seat. He was exhausted from work to say the very least, it had been a long shift for the both of them. From noon to ten pm, as per usual shifts on summer days. Each time being flexible depending on how business was that day.

"Hot fries though? Those smell disgusting, don't eat them here." The dark haired man said with a groan, scrunching up his nose in disgust.

"Lay off, I'm starving and Gramps hasn't told us we can go home yet." Natsu said, setting down his phone and throwing a handful of the fries in his mouth.

"Speaking of which, where is the old man? It's already around quitting time already, why'd he want us to stay after for a bit?"

The group of employees were usually anxious to get out the doors for a well deserved rest at about that time at night. Natsu was especially ready to leave to get back home to his sister and best friend. He enjoyed spending time with his girls a lot and having missed some quality time with them really made his heart ache.

"I need to get back to the house soon, I just texted Lucy it wouldn't be long for us to close up. Don't want to let her down." The pinkette said, licking the red chili powder dust off his stained fingers with an obnoxious popping sound.

When it came to Natsu and Lucy, people would usually assume the two friends were together romantically by first look, and by the way they would passionately talk about each other. However, all their close friends knew they were just simply friends, and no one doubted their love for each other in that aspect.

As far as actual romance went between the two, everyone had their suspicions as to what happened between closed doors between them. Although, it was believed Natsu was too dense to ever start anything as far as a relationship, and Lucy's feelings were just too unclear for people to notice besides her practically living in his house.

The blonde and pinkette were basically something you couldn't simply label. They were more than friends, but less than lovers.

When things were getting difficult in Lucy's life, she would stay at the Dragneel house and struggle to manage the rent of her own place. Igneel and Grandine would beg the young girl to accept some extra cash to aid her bills she had to pay to keep her apartment, since they both partoke in higher paying jobs. The mother being a nurse practitioner and the father having a position in law. They even offered for her to fully move in with them many times, but she always refused.

Lucy was always afraid of being a burden on anyone, and she knew she needed to be independent and move on from her past tragedies. She kept her head up most of them time, pushing herself to face life and her underpaying tentative job with a smile. Selling writing commissions to people online didn't make a whole lot, but luckily she had that side career and her her weekend job at an earring shop.

With all she was carrying on her shoulder sometimes just joining in on the family's game of monopoly or going along with them on their occasional camping trips meant the world to the young teenager. Sleeping in a tent cuddled up to her best friend and his little sister made being alone less harsh on her. Lucy was glad she had the Dragneel's to be there for her whenever she needed company, because honestly without that sense of comfort she probably would have lost her mind.

Natsu was very aware how much she needed them, and as a family they all knew they needed her as well. Each one of the members loved her in their own unique way. She was apart of their family no matter what, and they would all do anything for each other.

That's why his heart yearned to be back at his house opposed to the Fairy Tail cafe.

Gray pulled his feet to rest upon the table between the two, stretching out his tired legs. His calves and feet were starting to cramp up from all the running around they'd been doing during the evening rush hour. He knew very well it wasn't a great idea since it was a public restaurant, but no customers were inside at that time anyways. They would have to wash the tables tomorrow morning again, so it didn't matter much to him at all.

Seeing as Gray hadn't continue the conversation, Natsu brought his attention back to scrolling mindlessly on social media, and he continued munching loudly on his food.

He had eventually reached the last of the contents in the chip bag, causing a groan to emit from his throat. Not wanting to waste any flavor remaining, he held the bag above his head and emptied every last content onto his red stained tongue.

Once he finished, he glanced back over to his device to see a picture of his best friend staring back at him. It was a photo of Lucy and her tiny white, fluffy pomeranian named Plue. She had her left arm strown over the small dog, as she squatted beside him. She had an adorable smile adorning her face as she took the selfie of the two.

Natsu couldn't help but smirk upon the sight of the picture. The blonde looked genuinely happy and it warmed his heart to no end. She'd been going through a lot lately and she deserved that happiness that was evident in the photo.

His eyes slowly skimmed down to like the picture and caught a glimpse of a comment that caught his attention.

fairlyboozed: Nice rack ;)

Natsu raised an eyebrow in confusion upon reading the message, it was pretty unusual to see on Lucy's picture. Although he was aware that it wasn't said in a malicious way.

After processing Cana Alberona's comment, he subconsciously glanced back up to realize Lucy had been wearing a low cut pink tank top revealing the top half of her bra and spilling cleavage. Natsu wouldn't normally notice something like that of Lucy, but he did this time after seeing the mention of her breasts.

The comment itself made by their brunette friend didn't bother him much until he read the comments below hers.

lokeeey: Very nice indeed.

Loke, one of their fellow classmate's comment had been one to push Natsu to his slightly pissed off state. Why did he have to comment of Lucy's body? He understand Cana, because the girls were close friends. Loke didn't have that kind of clearance to get away with a such a comment though.

It made the pinkette decide to quickly type a response to defend against the boy's words towards his best friend, without really realizing what he was saying. He was acting more on instinct and annoyance than on intelligence.

firedragon7: Doesn't mean you have to comment on her boobs, Lucy knows they're great.

Feeling triumph with his response he threw his phone on the table, and it slid over towards Gray's direction. In return, he picked up Natsu's phone to read all the comments including the new one by the teen boy.

The dark haired boy just raised an eyebrow in Natsu's direction. "You understand she'll get pissed at you for saying that too, right?" Gray inquired almost rhetorically, in a matter a fact tone, setting the device down.

Natsu wasn't as stupid as most people believed, truth be told he could be brilliant at times. That showed when helping his friends in need and giving motivational quotes. Those talents were best in competitions, fights, and specific events. However, quick, hot tempered comebacks weren't always his strong suit. They usually came out differently, and did the opposite of the purpose of it was intended to do.

"Shaddup Popsicle Dick, Loke just doesn't need to be commenting on Lucy's boobs. She should know she has amazing ones without his opinion." The pinkette said crossing his arms over his chest.

He had always been one to be defensive over his close friends, and Lucy was always someone to rile him up easily. She was basically family to him, and whenever it came to her, he always got worked up pretty fast. Natsu never thought about why she was so different than everyone else when it came to his emotions, he just dismissed it as because they were close friends.

"You know she wouldn't like you commenting on her tits at all, Flame Brain. So I'd tone it down."

Natsu only seemed to squint his eyes towards Gray, before beginning to say his comeback, "I'll have you know I've touch-"

That's when a louder voice cleared their throat drawing the male's attentions towards the middle of the restaurant. There stood a short man with gray hair slightly covering the back of his head, the lack thereof in the front, due to his balding. He looked like those type of grandpas who play chess alone at parks in movies.

He had a grim look upon his face, with furred eyebrows showing obvious concentration as to what he'd say.

"I'm sorry kids, but I've got some bad news," He began with a sigh, aware of how his employees weren't going to enjoy his announcement in the least bit. "There's been an notice of an accident occurring recently, and I believe it would be best if you all remained here until further notice. I'm not clear on the exact details, but it is understood that it's not in anyone's best interests to travel alone at night right now."

The boys sitting stared in astonishment towards Makarov, the owner. They had no idea what to even think. What could possibly have been going on?

If it was necessary to make everyone stay late, so they wouldn't risk their safety, meant it had to be pretty serious. That fact alone baffled Natsu, because Magnolia was a very small and calm town with hardly any crime anymore.

There had been past incidents before since no place was ever really completely safe, but nothing overwhelmingly dangerous as to threaten civilians on a normal basis.

Nothing drastic had been occurring since the gigantic issue with Zeref and his cult years ago. That was when the underground gangs of the whole country of Fiore were pretty intense. Magnolia's area of the issues were people mainly selling and profiting from illegal drug deals.

There were different branches of the big tree of drug dealing, with the specific shadowed figure ahead of it all. The news stating each affiliation underneath Zeref making between sixty eight to two hundred billion jewels on average within the black market.

The gangs were known to be associated with other illegal crimes such as theft, distribution of counterfeit weapons, and other things as far as murder occasionally. However, all but two of the gangs had been discovered, with the last on the run.

The balam alliance consisting of Grimoire Heart, Oracion Seis, and Tartaros. The first group had gone through years of interrogation and research before only two of the females were released with specific circumstances to keep them in close contact with law officers, and therapy visits to check up on their mental health. The rest had been imprisoned based on crimes.

The entirety of Oracion Seis were on the run from the law, and all but one were still currently missing. Magnolia's second most wanted group right after Tartaros.

That top of of the group, Tartaros, made all the others' crimes seem completely innocent in comparison. When something went wrong in the community, they were the ones in charge of dealing with the problem. They were the ones who called the shots of who lived or died for a while. Until the alliance fell is when they disappeared from sight for years, fifteen to be exact. Since then only one of the members had been discovered by enforcements.

The one by the name Jackal, he was caught entering the very restaurant in which the boys were located in. That was not too long ago, but still what felt like years ago. Before Natsu or Gray worked there. No one knew the entire instance except for Makarov's grandson who refused to discuss it with anyone but the police, seeing as the incident landed the tough guy in the hospital.

Following that day, the man in question had been taken into custody and entered into a mental hospital under tight security. He claimed insanity to avoid a prison sentence until further notice at that time. The whole trial was messy, but the basis of it was Zeref had inside people save the man from coming close to leaking any valuable information of the gang.

That was all the information anyone had heard of true crime in the close knit community until this very instance.

"What happened, Gramps?" Natsu called out dropping everything to jump out the booth onto his feet. The name he had called had been one they all had given the owner, as a form of endearment to him.

The older man only replied with a deep sigh, pinching the skin between his eyebrows together in concentration. He had no idea what to tell his workers that he considered almost his children. Makarov didn't want any of them to worry, but he knew they should know.

"I'm not entirely sure at the moment, but we were just alerted by phone call that someone dangerous was on the streets of our city and that any and everyone should remain indoors until further notice." He replied, thinking that was the best response he could give everyone.

A few of the women who worked behind the bar gave each other worried glances, unsure what to think of the situation as well. The whole incident seemed so random, like it couldn't have been mere coincidence for something random to happen such as this.

"No, this is not going to happen. If this is going on, I need to get back home immediately. My family is there and I need to be with them if something like this is happening, I need to protect them." The pinkette announced repeatedly with a dark look consuming his features, revealing the seriousness in his demeanor.

Gray stood up from the booth to join in the conversation, furring his eyebrows unsure of what to say himself. "I know what you're saying Natsu, I have people I'd like to protect too but we need to listen to Gramps. He's in charge, and you know he wouldn't make us do anything if it wasn't what he really believed was right."

His statement got a few agreeing comments from the Strauss sisters who wanted to also be together with their family, which consisted of their brother awaiting them at home.

"I will let you all know more information as soon as I'm notified of it," Makarov began making his voice louder above the rest of the murmurs heard, "for now we need to lock up the place, close the blinds on every window, and turn out all the lights. After that's done you all need to go to the break room in the back and wait there until it's clear to leave."

By the harshness of his voice, it was understand how serious he was about the situation. Makarov wasn't about to take the incident in a joking matter, it was his job to watch after everyone and that's what he was intending to do.

Everyone moved to follow his instructions silently besides Natsu. The hot headed teen just stood there with his arms crossed, pissed at the fact they were going into a lock down when Wendy and Lucy needed him at home. He was determined to get out of there, and nothing would stop him.

He just needed to find a way out, where Gramps wouldn't be able to stop him. Makarov was persistent, and even Natsu knew he wouldn't be able to escape without the older man preventing him.

He needed a plan to escape.

That's when the pinkette heard a familiar buzz from the table he was last at, and he recognized it as his phone's notification going on. He immediately unlocked his device to read the message on the screen sent to a group chat he was included in.

Erza: Hey guys, I just saw on the news that some guy escaped a mental ward.

Natsu stared at his phone blankly, confused as to what the text meant before a flurry of more arrived on his screen with back and forth conversation between Gray and the redhead. That's when he read a name mentioned, one that seemed so familiar that it was at the tip of his tongue yet so far in the back of his mind.

Zeref.

That's when he finally responded to the chat, learning information as to what was honestly going on. Jackal, a previous member of Tartaros, who worked under the man Zeref had escaped the supposedly tightly secured mental hospital in the city. So much for tight precautions on a man who had killed hundreds of people in his life without an ounce of remorse.

That's when the information really hit him. Wendy and Lucy home alone with a lethal man walking the streets.

He then began sending a rush of texts to the blonde as he felt anxiety begin to bubble in his chest for the girl's safety. He needed to get out of the restaurant quickly, or else who knew what could possibly happen.

Natsu needed to protect them, he wouldn't forgive himself if anything were to happen to them. That was for damn sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm going to do my best to start updating this fic every two weeks, so I can evenly work on both of my stories. Sorry for such a long delay, I've been focusing on drawing and I guess I've just really lost track of time. I'm immersed in building the plot for this fic, so don't worry I will invest more time into updating. Thanks for being patient.
> 
> I'm super bad at writing past and present tenses clearly, so I will work on that. I apologize.
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos and the review! I'm still trying to figure this site out sorry!


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